Continuing with the fourth stage of the Ten Blessings in the Sutra of Innumerable Blessings, we find ourselves in a transition between “living beings” who help Bodhisattvas and beginner Bodhisattvas.
Living beings:
[T]hey will become brave, and, even though they cannot yet save themselves, they will save others. Together with bodhisattvas they will become part of the entourage of the buddha-tathagatas, who will always preach the Dharma to them. Hearing it, they will receive and embrace the Dharma in accord with their capacities and never oppose it. Moreover, they will teach it for people everywhere as occasion demands.
A beginner Bodhisattva who hears this sutra:
[T]hough not yet able to realize ultimate truth, or shake the three-thousand-great-thousand-fold world, or turn the great Dharma wheel with a thunderous buddha-voice, this bodhisattva will be admired by all the four groups and the eight guardians of Buddhism, and great bodhisattvas will be in his entourage. Entering deeply into the secret Dharma of the buddhas, he will explain it without errors or mistakes. He will always be protected by the buddhas and especially showered with affection, because he is a beginner in learning. Good sons, this is called the fourth amazing power of blessing of this sutra.
Between these two perspectives on the fourth blessing, we learn where Bodhisattvas come from:
The Buddha is the king; this sutra is his wife; their coming together results in the birth of their child, a bodhisattva.